Chagrin Falls Middle School celebrated “Read Across America” week March 4-8 to promote reading and honor children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Read Across America Week
Chagrin Falls Middle School celebrated “Read Across America” week March 4-8 to promote reading and honor children’s author Dr. Seuss.
“Read Across America” is an annual reading and motivation program created by the National Education Association. It is celebrated in early March in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
The goal of the program is to get children excited about reading. Studies have shown that children who are motivated and are committed to reading do better in school and are successful readers for the rest of their life.
CFMS held a Seuss-themed spirit week to add an element of fun to the reading promotion. Monday, March 4 was “Cozy up to a Good Book” day and students wore pajamas to school. Tuesday was “Thing 1 and Thing 2” day where students dressed as twins. “Wacky Wednesday” followed in which students were encouraged to wear mismatched clothing. Thursday’s theme was “Fox in Socks” and students were allowed to wear crazy socks to school. The week finished off on Friday with the classic “Cat in the Hat” theme and each student could wear a hat to class.
Speech and Debate Showcase
Chagrin Falls High School Speech & Debate Team is ranked in the top 10 programs in the state of Ohio and was named a Speech & Debate School of Excellence in 2019. Over 20 members of the team qualified to compete at the state tournament this year and the state runners-up in Duo Interpretation are from Chagrin. Too few people know about this super successful team, so the Chagrin community is invited to learn what makes the team so special.
The high school’s award-winning Speech & Debate Team will present a showcase of some of this year’s best and most entertaining public speaking, debate and oral interpretation pieces.
The Speech and Debate Boosters organization is a 501C3 so donations at the door are not only tax deductible, but will be used toward necessary team expenses like tournament fees.
The showcase is April 4 at 6 p.m. at Chagrin Falls High School Black Box Theater, 400 East Washington St. The showcase will followed by reception and raffle.
Suggested donation is $10 and all student tickets are free.
Those unable to make the showcase, but interested in making a tax-deductible donation to support the team may send donations to CFHS Speech & Debate Boosters, 27 Paw Paw Lake Drive, Chagrin Falls, OH 44022.
CFMS Participates in SAY Foundation Forum
Eighth-graders participated in The Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) Foundation’s annual youth forum. The SAY Foundation is a program of Bellefaire JCB. The foundation provides free school-based and community services to help teens minimize risky behavior, make healthy choices and work through difficulties caused by the tensions of adolescence.
The theme of this year’s forum was “Being an Upstander.” Students from neighboring districts met at John Carroll University for the day-long event to interact with each other through activities. A speaker addressed them all about the importance of standing up for others and why it’s important not to be a bystander. The event was run by various high school SAY volunteers in Northeast Ohio.
Twenty CFMS eighth-graders were chosen to attend the forum based on their high character and leadership within the school building. Following the forum, CFMS counselor Kyle Patterson asked the students about what issues can be better addressed within their middle school. They also brainstormed ideas for working with the middle school students when they themselves move to high school.
Responsive Classroom Workshop
Gurney Elementary School spanish teacher Christopher Englehart, STEM teacher Sally Gallick, physical education teacher Justin Cannon and music teacher Patrice Voto attended the recent Columbus Responsive Classroom Workshop at The Ohio State University thanks to a grant from the Chagrin Falls PTO. The workshop taught encore teachers strategies for implementing responsive classroom techniques in the classroom.
Gurney uses the Responsive Classroom Program school-wide. It is a way for all teachers at Gurney to bring together social and academic learning throughout the school day.
“It truly is the foundation for the culture of our school,” said Principal Rachel Jones. “All of our staff has gone through training in this program and we continue to provide updated training book studies and specialty training such as this one.”
The teachers that attended this workshop in Columbus work with all 500-plus students at Gurney Elementary every year.
Each classroom begins the day with a morning meeting which is a way to greet each other, play a game, review the day’s schedule and have some fun. It sets a positive tone for the learning for the rest of the day.
At the beginning of each school year, each class works together to create the rules and they are revisited during the entire year. Engaging academic lessons filled with students’ choice are another component of this program which teachers incorporate daily.
“As encore teachers, we see all students for only short times throughout the day, but we do see students for multiple years,” said Englehart. “It allows us to teach and reinforce expectations, spend more time on learning and help students to grow socially and emotionally through their time in the building. Those that attended the training are taking strategies and skills learned from the conference and translating them to our own classrooms.”
Chagrin Students Take Action
Community members Linda Levi and Bob Fay have teamed up with local Heinen’s stores, the Chagrin Falls High School (CFHS) Cha-GREEN Environmental Club, CFHS Video Production students and students and staff across Chagrin Falls Schools to grow awareness about the need to reduce plastic bag consumption. Each school has decorated its own plastic bag collection box and students and staff have begun depositing used plastic bags in them.
Collected bags will be regularly transported to plastic bag recycling locations by CFHS Cha-GREEN Environmental Club students. Morning announcements have helped to grow elementary student awareness about the global impact plastic bag use is having upon our environment. CFHS video production students have created a short video to further promote awareness.
Several contest opportunities were provided to students to help them express their thoughts and ideas about recycling in ways that would grow community awareness.
At Gurney Elementary School, the Project Shop Smart Cha-GREEN Poster Contest invited students to create posters to help educate community members about why recycling plastic shopping bags at an approved collection site and/or using recyclable shopping bags is important and to motivate community members to take action. These posters will be displayed in local Heinen’s stores to educate and motivate shoppers to “Shop Smart Cha-Green.” The following students created posters that earned the following awards:
- Grand Prize Award: Nicholas Turchan
- Kindergarten Grade Level Award: Sam Turchan
- 1st Grade Level Award: Freya Hilbers
- 2nd Grade Level Award: Charlotte Mullapudi
At Chagrin Falls Intermediate School, the Project Shop Smart Cha-GREEN Letter-Writing Contest invited students to write letters designed to educate community members about why recycling plastic shopping bags at an approved collection site and/or using recyclable shopping bags is important and to persuade district families to take action. These letters will be displayed in local Heinen’s stores to educate and persuade shoppers to “Shop Smart Cha-Green.” The following students created letters that earned the following awards:
- Grand Prize Award: Eloise Pulte
- 4th Grade Level Award: Harper Stewart
- 5th Grade Level Award (TIE): Nicholas Hoimes
- 5th Grade Level Award (TIE): Duncan Lyle
All award winners received certificates and re-usable Chagrin Falls knapsacks. Grand prizewinners also received a $25 gift card to Heinen’s.
“We are extremely proud of all of our students who participated in these contests,” said Superintendent Robert Hunt. “Our students are aware of the need to think globally and act locally. Student posters, letters, videos, and efforts to recycle plastic bags, reduce plastic bag use, and grow use of reusable bags will make a huge difference in our community. Chagrin Falls students continue to realize their potential to impact positive global change.”
